Surrey Memorial Hospital designated as Ebola site

As a result of extensive discussion and evaluation involving public health, infection control and senior administration across the Lower Mainland and within the Ministry of Health, a decision has been made to designate Surrey Memorial Hospital as the site to manage confirmed cases of Ebola in our region.

The hospital’s state-of-the-art infection control measures and laboratory and microbiology capabilities are ideal for dealing with patients who are strongly believed by clinical presentation and history or confirmed by lab testing to have the virus. In addition, the design of the new Critical Care Tower at Surrey Memorial makes it easy to transition between levels of acute care as needed.

This designation means any adult patient in the Lower Mainland who has tested positive with the Ebola virus will be transferred to Surrey Memorial Hospital for further treatment. Surrey Memorial and BC Children’s Hospital will share responsibility for caring for any child cases and discussions are underway to determine the criteria for admission to one or the other site for such patients. Not only will this approach ensure any patient is cared for in a state-of-the-art setting, but that British Columbians will continue to have access to tertiary and quaternary care provided at hospitals such as Vancouver General, Royal Columbian and St. Paul’s.

While Surrey Memorial Hospital is now the designated Lower Mainland site, all hospitals will work to a state of readiness to assess, screen and test a suspected Ebola patient. Simulation training for Fraser Health, VCH and Providence staff is now underway, with the initial focus being on the correct and safe technique for putting on and removing personal protective equipment in accordance with national protocols. Further training modules are being developed to simulate the management of suspected and diagnosed cases, and will be extended to appropriate staff in both health authorities.

Of course we are watching and learning from what is happening around the world – refining our protocols and procedures to ensure that our staff and the people we serve are as safe as possible for the unlikely event that an Ebola case arrives in British Columbia. The Lower Mainland is fortunate to have such high quality centres supported by highly skilled and dedicated staff, many of who have had experience dealing with infectious diseases such as SARS and H1N1.
Further updates on our Ebola readiness will be issued as needed. In the meantime, Dr. Patrick O’Connor, VP of Medicine, Quality and Safety for VCH, and Vivian Giglio, VP of Clinical Operations at Fraser Health, will lead the process to implement the procedures and protocols necessary to support this direction. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak with your manager so that we can help support you in caring for our patients.